Hearts Of Gold Redbud

Sometimes it takes a long time, and plenty of patience, to see your new plants looking beautiful. Some take several years before they bloom, and even longer to grow large enough to make a real statement in your garden. Even among the same plant, some varieties are quicker than others. Take the redbud tree. It is a moderate grower, and usually flowers only on older branches, so it can take some time before you have a good-sized blooming tree. This is not true for the Hearts of Gold Redbud. This vigorous, fast-growing tree blooms even on one-year branches, and it grows 2 feet a year, so that within 5 years you will have a substantial bush 10 feet tall and wide. What a gift for the impatient gardener. Oh, let’s not forget the gorgeous golden leaves, that make it beautiful even when not blooming. What a winner!

The Hearts of Gold Redbud is a large shrub or small, multi-stem tree, that grows into a plant 20 to 25 feet tall, and around 30 feet wide. It has an attractive rounded or vase-shaped form, with a dense, twiggy structure. It is perfect as a large specimen on a lawn, at the back of shrub beds, and in larger foundation planting around your home. It fits well at the margins of wooded areas or planted in the corners of your property. It has attractive very dark brown bark, which is smooth and slightly glossy on younger stems, but flaking to reveal paler, reddish under-bark on older stems. The fine tracery of the branches is attractive in winter. In early spring, while the branches are still bare, this tree blooms. As well as carrying blooms on young stems, it also has clusters of them arising directly out of older branches and even the main trunk, so when it blooms it is profusely covered from head to toe in blossoms, and all through the branch structure, not just at the edges.

The small blossoms are in clusters of up to 10 flowers, each a ½ inch long, like pea flowers, of a rich, vibrant, purple-pink color. Flowering lasts for about 3 weeks, and a plant in bloom is visible from a great distance, so this dramatic blooming really brings your garden alive. The typical brown seed pods seen in redbud trees are only rarely produced by this variety. It is also unique for developing flower buds on stems that are just one year old, while all other varieties only produce flowers on stems that are 2 or 3 years old. As a result, this plant blooms right away – so there is waiting for it to mature – and it always has flowers right to the tips of the branches, increasing the intensity of the display.

Most redbuds have attractive enough leaves, but after flowering they become a quiet background shrub. Not the Hearts of Gold Redbud. The large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves are 3 to 5 inches long and wide, with a tapering tip. In spring, after blooming, they emerge flushed with orange-red, and this quickly matures to a bright, uniform gold coloring. As summer arrives in earnest, they become more chartreuse or yellow-green, still looking bright and standing out against the darker greens of other shrubs. In fall they turn light yellow. The gold leaves make this plant an outstanding foliage plant, and along with its flowering you get months and months of interest and color from this plant – it’s a truly valuable garden addition.

Full sun is the best position for the Hearts of Gold Redbud. Too much shade will make the gold color of the leaves turn greenish very quickly. The soil should be moist, rich and well-drained, but this tough plant is not too fussy, and it grows well in poorer soils, including clays. It is hardy in warmer parts of zone 4, and just as hardy in zone 9, tolerating both cold and heat. In hotter areas it may benefit from afternoon shade, and you should attend to watering during dry periods, especially in warm zones. Pests and diseases are rare, and deer don’t bother with this plant. Pruning is not needed, but you may wish to remove some lower branches, and it is always advisable to take out dead or very crowded branches. Allow enough room for its spread when planting. It should not be closer than 15 feet to a wall, fence or boundary line, and don’t plant beneath overhead wires. This plant is very difficult to relocate in your garden, as established plants don’t transplant well – think carefully when choosing what will be its final, permanent spot in your garden.

The Hearts of Gold Redbud is a special form of the eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis. Although the name implies it grows in Canada, it is only found in the most southern part of Ontario, but it grows all through New England, around the Great Lakes, and down into Florida and Texas. The variety called ‘Hearts of Gold’ was discovered in the spring of 2002 by Jon Roethling growing as a single seedling plant in a private garden in Greensboro, North Carolina. Pieces were taken to the Hidden Hollow Nursery in Belvidere, Tennessee that fall, and successfully grafted onto ordinary redbud seedlings. Our trees are grown in the same way, to ensure their perfect genetic continuity from that original unique plant. This tree is a big hit with all gardeners who see it, and the demand is far greater than the supply. Order now, as they will all be gone very soon.